This is Christmas at our House. We have three trees that we put up every year.

The first one you will find in the entrance of our house and its the “Kid’s Project Tree”. My boys have done so many wonderful ornaments throughout the years at school that I wanted to showcase them by having their own little tree. I love this tree because there are pictures of the boys at every age and skill level. Plus the boys are very proud of it.

The second tree is in our kitchen and its our “Travel Tree”. Our summers are filled with road trips all over this great nation of ours and this tree has a collection of ornaments that we have bought in each of the memorable locations we’ve been. Its a great reminder of what fun we’ve had and wonder what the next summer trip will hold for us.

Our third and final tree is the biggy. I spend days on this one.

We have ornaments of when my husband and I were little, ornaments from Hallmark where I used to work, ornaments from when we got married and collected throughout the years and all the ornaments that friends and family have gifted to us that we treasure so dearly, and the collection keeps growing.

The tree is dripping with ornaments and glowing with all kinds of lights, twinkling and stable ones, and those bubble lights that I love so much.

The Nativity scene is a tradition that my maternal mother’s great grandmother started a long time ago and I am the 4th generation to carry on the tradition. We all do it a little differently but using the same concept and materials.

The mountains are created using brown paper. You can get in it in rolls or we used to use brown paper bags. You paint the paper with brown and white acrylic paints, painting it with long streaks. I take it a step further and have different shades of browns like Burnt and Raw Siena, and Burnt Umber. The past generations used brown and white shoe polish, so did I until I discovered acrylics which was much cheaper. Once the paper is dry you crumple it up tight and then stretch it out, this creates an illusion of a rough rocky terrain. I form the layers by placing the boxes I keep all the Christmas Decorations in around the tree. I also crumple up newspaper and place it underneath creating the form I want and fill in the gaps, then I place the painted crumpled paper over it. The brown paper you painted is kept every year, crumpled up, and each year it ages, it looks better. Then you place your Nativity Scene on it.

I have a traditional theme and lots of animals, even a horse heard with a few Paint horses that I’ve tweeked to look like my horse Luna. Its funny, but I figure why not, doesn’t every Nativity scene deserve a herd of horses  ;)

When the kids were little all sorts of crazy animals made it in there, like hypos, elephants, tigers, etc, but the boys were always respectful of the main Nativity figurines which are ceramics. I also add hay for the figurines & animals to lay on, cotton for a misty look & even lights underneath that I pop out to showcase the Nativity area. Its a lot of work, but its wonderful to look at all month long.

I wish you and your family a wonderful and joyous Christmas and a New Year full of happiness and success from my Angels to Yours!  :)